Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
by Tiberium
Summary: Five times Peter Petrelli might have done things differently.


**Spoilers: **up to Episode 16 (Run)

I'm following Heroes on British TV, which means I am _way_ behind nearly everyone else, and only up to episode 16ish (Run).

This is the first time I have tried writing anything in about 7 years, so it probably isn't half as good as I wanted it to be.

**Usual disclaimer **- Not mine, alas - I don't own any of the characters or anything to do with Heroes.

"I shall be telling this with a sigh  
Somewhere ages and ages hence:  
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —  
I took the one less travelled by,  
And that has made all the difference."

The Road Not Taken (Robert Frost, 1920)

_1. always_

Peter had been stood on the roof all night. Thinking. He'd been so _sure_ when he'd finally left Isaac. And Simone. So sure that his dreams were real, that he could fly if he just took that step.

Standing on the roof in the cold light of dawn that certainty was fading away. He looked again at the phone in his hand. He needed to call Nathan, needed Nathan to be there when he did it so he would finally stop seeing Peter as his little brother and start seeing him as... something else. Peter wasn't sure what that would be, but here and now he thought that anything had to be better than the way he thought Nathan saw him.

He needed Nathan here to be able to do this, and that was the problem. Because Peter wasn't suicidal and the risk of jumping off the building to prove that he could fly would only be outweighed by the satisfaction of being able to prove to Nathan that he was right. But he didn't think he'd be able to do it if Nathan was there either. He'd stand there and call up "What are you doing, Pete?" and talk to him in that warm, sympathetic, understanding _patronizing_ voice, and any certainty he'd managed to cling to would slip away and he'd end up turning around and walking away. Going along with what Nathan wanted, like always.

In the end he decided to spare himself the humiliation of having Nathan see him crumble under persuasion, (_like always_) so did it without Nathan actually having to be there. He turned round and walked away from the roof.

Five weeks later when Ted Sprague lost the tenuous hold on sanity that he'd been clinging to since his wife died, and exploded spectacularly and finally in the middle of New York, Peter didn't have time to wonder what was happening, or why. Sitting with his brother, supposedly celebrating his victory, trying desperately not to blame Nathan for not having been there five weeks ago to goad him in to trying to fly when Nathan didn't even know that he should have been there because Peter had never made that call, and trying to swallow down the resentment long enough to smile at his brother, he didn't even realise what was happening as everyone died.

_2. this time_

"Hiro"

Peter looked wildly around the carriage but Hiro definitely wasn't there. Mohinder Suresh, however, was.

Looking at him, talking to him with a concerned, sympathetic, understanding _patronizing_ tone to his voice, which slowly slid in to condescension.

"Go home Peter"

Everything about the man - the voice, the face, the smile - were all so different to Nathan's, but together they somehow added up to something that was exactly the same as Nathan when he was trying (_failing) _to humour him.

So he did. He got off that subway train, but got on another and went home. He went to work, and mourned when Charles Deveaux died, smiled at his brother and nodded when Nathan asked "Everything ok now Pete?" (Nathan ostensibly letting everyone know that he was looking out for his previously suicidal little brother, while the ambiguous glint in his eye told Peter that it really meant "Now that you've stopped talking about being able to fly has everything gone back to normal?")

He went back to Isaac's, eventually, but found nothing but empty rooms, no painter, no artwork. He left it all alone until he heard that two cheerleaders had been murdered in Texas and then, spurred by a squirming sense of guilt he flew out to try and find out what happened.

He found no answers, only grief stricken families, the father of one girl looking at him with a kind of numb anger, as if he wanted to say something but had lost the willpower to even try. He returned to New York and found Isaac again. Looked at the painting from the floor, the explosion, and vowed to get it right this time.

Still looking for answers he scoured New York, then went further a field. They knew what would happen, but not why, not when. He wasn't even in New York when it happened, was miles and miles away, still looking for answers, for a way to stop it, when he saw the devastation rising in the distance.

_3. hesitate_

He didn't really mean to hesitate. He'd told her to run, seen her disappear down the corridor while he turned to face the man heading after her. He'd meant to be so brave, to defeat this monster at whatever the cost, but as locker doors started flying through the air towards him and he realised he didn't have any idea how to even start dealing with this he turned and ran.

He caught up with the cheerleader on the steps, pulled her upright and sent them both stumbling on. He told her again to run, sent her away and turned back to face the man chasing them. Who was right in front of him.

"What do I do?" The thought was only fleeting, but Nathan's voice echoed through his mind, something condescending about flying round rescuing cats from trees, and Peter realised that right now he couldn't even do that. That not only was he nothing unless someone else with a power was around, but even then he wasn't anything unless he knew what that power was and how to use it.

He barely hesitated at all, but it was long enough for the man to brush him aside without a second thought. Little enough effort for the killer, but enough to send Peter hurtling over the side of the building and hitting the ground. Hard.

Head sliced open, the Cheerleader died. And so did Peter. Bones and blood staying resolutely where they had fallen without the regenerative powers of a live girl to help them heal.

_4. irony_

He couldn't believe it when he saw the man stealing from people. Yeah, so, this was New York but even here people aren't that blatant about it, just casually walking up and taking people's things without a second glance.

Peter opened his mouth to start shouting, started to chase after the guy. And stopped. "If I go after him I might get sucked back in to it all. Maybe have to speak to the police, explain I'd seen the man stealing, Nathan would probably get involved again, start listing all the reasons why I should stick around …"

Peter turned and walked away. Ok, so a couple of people were losing their money, but at least they were keeping their life. Which they might not do if he stuck around.

He caught a flight, went out in to the desert. Avoided everyone he could except the only person he actually needed to.

Didn't even know the guy's name but Peter could tell straight away that this was 'him'. In his dreams where he'd exploded, when he said that "I took his power", this had to be the guy he was talking about.

Peter would have laughed at the irony, except that he was too busy trying to unwrap the guy's hands from his throat, as he'd apparently seen Peter's presence as an insult. Or a threat. It was hard to tell, really.

Didn't take long before it was all over. Explosion in the desert, but very few people hurt.

_5. best intentions_

He knew Nathan would do it. After all, it was only a comparatively small step from announcing to the world that his little brother made a suicide attempt, to having him detained (_locked up)_ for being mentally ill.

Peter eyed the door, trying to decide if he could get past his brother and Suresh. Nathan sounded so calm. Comforting. "We'll figure this out" he promised, and all Peter had to do was stop fighting, sit down and start talking to them.

So he did. Didn't bolt for the door, didn't try to run, just sat down with them and talked.

In the following weeks Mohinder (and Peter wasn't exactly sure when he'd changed from being Suresh to Mohinder) ran lots of tests, and they talked, and Nathan and Peter talked, and Mohinder and Nathan talked quietly in corners when Peter wasn't supposed to be listening.

And all the time Peter felt an itching under his skin, the nagging feeling that something was going to happen, _soon, sooner, so close_ and in the end he did bolt. Evaded everyone who was 'looking out for him' in the best of Nathan Petrelli traditions of looking out for someone, which actually meant keeping tabs rather than taking care of someone.

In his hurry he bumped in to someone in the street. Snarled 'watch it' (not that he was ever usually that rude, but he'd had a bad few weeks) and the guy snarled back, grabbing his arm and yanking him around. Peter only vaguely recognised the other man with him to be the cop from when he'd been arrested back when he was saving cheerleaders and trying to be heroic before the white noise from the telepathy power, and the overwhelming _burn_ of the other man's power collided and overloaded Peter's mind.

He also had time to recognise from the other guy's eyes that he'd been having just as bad a few weeks as Peter had been.

It would be difficult to tell which one of them went first, but the beginning explosion of one sparked the reaction of the other, and while one exploding man may have been devastating … two was the end.


End file.
